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OBJECTIVES: Rates of Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile infection (CDI) are higher in North Wales than elsewhere in the UK. We used WGS to investigate if this is due to increased healthcare-associated transmission from other cases. METHODS: Healthcare and community C. difficile isolates from patients across North Wales (February-July 2015) from glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH)-positive faecal samples underwent WGS. Data from patient records, hospital management systems and national antimicrobial use surveillance were used. RESULTS: Of the 499 GDH-positive samples, 338 (68%) were sequenced and 299 distinct infections/colonizations were identified, 229/299 (77%) with toxin genes. Only 39/229 (17%) toxigenic isolates were related within ≤2 SNPs to ≥1 infections/colonizations from a previously sampled patient, i.e. demonstrated evidence of possible transmission. Independent predictors of possible transmission included healthcare exposure in the last 12 weeks (P = 0.002, with rates varying by hospital), infection with MLST types ST-1 (ribotype 027) and ST-11 (predominantly ribotype 078) compared with all other toxigenic STs (P 

Original publication

DOI

10.1093/jac/dky523

Type

Journal article

Journal

J Antimicrob Chemother

Publication Date

01/04/2019

Volume

74

Pages

1092 - 1100

Keywords

Clostridioides difficile, Clostridium Infections, Feces, Female, Geography, Medical, History, 21st Century, Humans, Incidence, Male, Molecular Epidemiology, Public Health Surveillance, Risk Factors, Wales, Whole Genome Sequencing